Knuckles Comics Canceled

It finally happened. Ken Penders gives the announcement:

Sadly, the KNUCKLES series will end for now as of issue #32. The good news is that he isn’t going away. The material developed for issues #33 through #35 as part of the SONIC ADVENTURE game adaptation will be appearing in the pages of SONIC starting with issue #79 of that series. The story scheduled for KNUCKLES #36 will now appear in SONIC SUPER SPECIAL #14, which then leads into the KNUCKLES 8-page back-up series that begins in SONIC #86. It’ll be a regular feature for the foreseeable future, unless sales of the last few issues show enough of an upward climb to encourage Archie to restore Knuckles to his own series once again.

At this point, KNUCKLES: TWENTY YEARS LATER will appear in SONIC SUPER SPECIAL #16. If there is further news, please refer to this website, as I will keep everyone updated with the latest developments.

Ken then answered a few questions. From JCN:

This is full of it. Canceling the series is a big mistake that Archie can do. I look forward to the next Knux issue than Sonic. The storylines are better and the character are better too. How could they cancel it? How?

KP: Everything you buy is because someone feels they have a product they can make money on by selling it to others. Archie Comics did not make this decision in order to make people upset. They have legitimate business interests. From their point of view, they weren’t making enough money to justify the cost of producing the book.

As a new publisher myself, I can sympathize and understand their decision. Let’s face it, if enough people don’t buy THE LOST ONES, it too won’t last long, either. No matter how much I may enjoy doing it or how much people like it, if enough people don’t buy it to at least cover the costs, it then becomes a losing proposition.

The biggest problem right now in comics is the way they reach the marketplace. Any method currently used is inefficient and outdated. And if the product has a hard time reaching the customers, or the customers being able to find it, that contributes to poor sales in a major way.

The problem is not as cut-and-dried as people think, and everyone needs to get the message out how important everyone’s contribution to the overall effort is. The bottom line to change anyone’s mind is sales, period, and if you want to see KNUCKLES ever get his book back, Archie has to be convinced the support (in terms of sales) is there. Saying you won’t buy the SONIC issues with KNUCKLES is not exactly a helpful approach to resolving matters the way everyone would like, comprende?

Dr. Robotnik: How do I get my money back? I just renewed my Knuckles subscription using the 12 issue subscription form and I sure as heck am not going to pay for no product.
Paying extra to support the Knuckles comic doesn’t bother me, but there is a difference between paying $16 for 12 issues and paying $16 for 3.

KP:In the event of a cancellation, Archie will either refund your money or ask if you wish to transfer the sub subscription to SONIC.

NOW BEFORE YOU OR ANYONE ELSE JUMPS OFF THE DEEP END….

…PLEASE PAY ATTENTION.

I said the BOOK was getting cancelled. I DIDN’T SAY IT WAS THE LAST OF KNUCKLES.

For one thing, the stories that were scheduled for KNUCKLES #33 through #35 WILL BE APPEARING in SONIC #79 through 85! Same stories, same characters, same writer, just different book, okay? The story scheduled for KNUCKLES #36 WILL BE APPEARING in the SONIC SUPER SPECIAL #14. Stories I HAD PLANNED for FUTURE KNUCKLES KNUCKLES ISSUES WILL BE APPEARING in an altered form in the back of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG BEGINNING WITH ISSUE #86.

Instead of going around saying KNUCKLES is dead, how about acknowledging we’re still in there fighting the good fight and keeping the series going, albeit in a different format?

Acting like Chicken Little does no one any good.

This is not Orwellian speak coming from me. I stated the facts plain and clear, so let’s not distort them any further, okay?

More on this as it becomes available. I’ll be following this story very closely, because you and I know Archie is going to get a ton of feedback about this.